ULTIMATE Hong Kong STREET FOOD ADVENTURE! Where the locals eat…

Extra, extra, eat all about it! Hong Kong's best street food is found... inside. If you want the 411 on where locals are grabbing their street food in Hong Kong, keep watching this video for the inside scoop. And of course, don't forget to subscribe. Hello, hello and welcome to another Chinese food adventure and greetings from the iconic Hong Kong Star Ferry. This is one of my favourite things to do here in Hong Kong, especially on a gorgeous day like today. Cannot believe that an experience like this is only a few dollars, but I'm very happy for it because even after just a few days here in Hong Kong, my pockets are hurting. It is expensive here. But today on our food adventure, we're going to be keeping expenses to a minimum because today we are going street food adventuring. So we're heading to the other side. We're not leaving Hong Kong Island. We are going to the Kowloon side to see what we can find over there. So I'm heading straight to the Mong Kok area where there's a concentration of street food stalls within a block or two. A great place to try some Hong Kong street food classics for the first time. So first up is this place here. I've been told it's quite famous. And here I want to try two things. Hong Kong style stinky tofu and also the curry fish balls. First up, we've got the curry fish balls at 12 Hong Kong dollars for 10 balls. I'm just waiting for my stinky tofu. And while I wait, I thought I would try my fish balls. Curry fish balls. They smell really fragrant. They're a lot smaller than I was expecting. They're so small and cute. Yum. I like that it's bite-sized actually. And you don't have to go in for like multiple bites. It's actually a little bit spicy. Very fragrant, that curry sauce. And yeah, fishy. Fish ball. And now here's our stinky tofu. It's served right out of the deep fryer on a stick. It's got a decent width to it. But you don't eat it plain. You've got all these sauces here to choose from that you can just help yourself to. I have no idea what to choose, honestly. Luckily, I got a helping hand from the seller here who instructed me to add some of this thick spicy sauce as well as this sweet one. Hong Kong style stinky tofu. Here we go. That is really good. I need more of that sauce. That is so good. Oh dear. The fish balls were good. But this is like the star of the show. The outside is just so crispy. So soft on the inside. I personally am a fan of stinky tofu that has a more like crisp exterior and has been more deep fried. And the sauces are so intense. Like this one is quite spicy and salty. And then the other one I put on, I don't really know. I think that sweet sauce must have drowned under all that spicy sauce I put on or attempted to put on this. Anyway, I loved it. On to our next snack. So just around the corner, I've come across this store. It's looking very popular. And they sell these octopus tentacles. That looks so nice. Correction, it's cuttlefish tentacle actually. And it's the most intense orange color. They had these combo deals here. So I thought, okay, why not? It looks really interesting. It comes out like with some kind of mustard on top, a yellow sauce. Check this out. So we've got three different little sticks here. And first things first, of course, I simply had to get a finger in there to check if this sauce that looks like mustard actually is in fact mustard. It's mustard. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk. And quite interesting. So you order over here and then they have this yellow line on the floor. And that basically indicates the eating area. First, let's try that cuttlefish tentacle. I'm going to dip a little bit in that mustard as well. It's cold. Not at all what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be hot. It's cold. It's not at all rubbery, which is something I'm always a little bit worried about when there's some kind of octopus or seafood on a stick. The brown sauce that you see on there is quite sweet and thick. And then that mustard adds this tang to it, which I really, really like. My second stick here was some kind of processed sausage, which was nice. Didn't like it as much. But the third stick, the turkey gizzard, I loved it. They're all good, but I actually think this one's my favorite. I really like the texture of gizzard. It's quite crunchy and it just tastes like chicken. Or I guess in this case, like turkey. And of course, the snacks continue. On the same block, there was a stall selling the famous fish siu mai. It's covered with soy sauce and chili sauce. I've heard a lot about these fish siu mai, so I'm really excited to try them out for myself. My first time trying a fish siu mai, actually. It's the texture for me. It's really bouncy. It's almost like a fish ball inside that siu mai wrapper. Definitely different to any of the other siu mai I've had before. I really like the sauces. You've got that saltiness from the soy sauce. Chili sauce is a little bit spicy, but it actually has a little bit of a taste of curry, actually. From what I understand, when it comes to like street food and cheap eats here in Hong Kong, you've got like vibes like this on the street. That's literally like street food. But you've also got a lot of food courts that you can go inside and have a lot of local food. And a lot of locals will choose to eat their cheap eats in that way. So I actually want to head to a local Hong Kong food court and check out what that's like. My friend recommended this old school Hong Kong style mall. It's absolutely packed floor to ceiling with shops, among which a lot of food stalls. Really, it's a one-stop shop for everything. You have everything from property stores over there, mobile phone stores, accessories, and of course, a lot of food. So it's kind of like a food court dispersed throughout these four levels here. And we're just going to have a look around and see what looks nice. This mall surprised me in so many ways. First of all, for the variety of food offered. Not only did I find every single one of the foods I ate earlier today here, but they also had a lot of other dishes on display as well. Local options, international options. I'm not sure which category this dish here falls into. I've never seen anything like it before. But basically, you choose which ingredients you want and each portion is individually packaged into plastic bags. You then hand over your collection of plastic bags where they'll all be combined into one single bigger plastic bag with sauce added. It's mixed together and you just eat it like that out of the plastic bag. I ultimately decided not to get it though. The other thing that surprised me about this mall was just how busy it was as well as how young and cool the clientele are here. I mean, this is by no means a super new or modern mall or anything like that, but it seems to be the place to be, especially if you're looking for a feed. I'm still very new to Hong Kong, but what I'm definitely getting the vibe from in this place is that the street food that you can find on the street is for tourists. But the street food you can find in a mall is like legit. There are so many street food stalls here, so much variety, so many amazing foods that I just want to try everything. Check out this store here, the nightmare for someone who cannot choose. Look how many drink options. If you're having trouble deciding, it might be helpful to ask yourself, what problems do I have? Want to improve rough skin, prevent acne or dark spots, whiten the skin, reduce bloating. Perhaps you want to help your digestion or alleviate constipation or improve your immune system. Here they'll actually recommend ingredients you can use to help with whatever problem you have. I just have to try it. I've never seen so many menu items before. I guess this is their list of 1, 2, 3, 4 top drinks. So maybe I go with the number one top drink, which is the... Actually, I think this is quite famous in Hong Kong. Someone has recommended me to try this. It's called Yangjie Ganlu and it's a combination of mango, pomelo, sago and coconut milk. I've had a lot of drinks here in Hong Kong so far, but I have to say this is probably my favorite. It's just the perfect combination of fruitiness, of texture, of coconut, of sweetness. It's just so perfect. It's just the perfect refreshing summer drink and also so cheap. This one was just 16 Hong Kong dollars. This is an absolute street food classic here in Cantonese regions. It is Niu Da. Of course, I need to try it. It's basically a collection of different varieties of offal, which they then cut into small bite-sized pieces. Here they actually did something I haven't seen before. They put it on a skewer. This is so cool. When I've had Niu Da before, usually they cut it up into this cup and they have a sauce on top, but she's actually constructed me a Niu Da skewer. A kind lady suggested I should add some of this sweet sauce as well as, of course, ding, ding, ding, mustard. I'm actually kind of surprised seeing mustard everywhere here in Hong Kong. Oh man, so juicy. You can tell it's been braised for hours and hours and hours. It's so soft in your mouth. I love the mustard with it. It adds this extra tanginess and really works well to negate that awful aftertaste you sometimes get. So 10 out of 10 would definitely recommend to a friend. Oh my gosh, I need to try this. It's a vending machine with cup noodle inside. Okay, I have very little luck, but I really, really want this. So I've gotten many coins so that I can get this cup noodle toy. Oh wait, I dropped it. And thus began a very frustrating cycle of adding coin after coin after coin and getting absolutely no closer to winning this cup of noodle. 50 coins later, yep, still no win. I think to ease my pain about not winning my cup of noodles, I need to go get myself some actual noodles. The only way to get over this pain is with pleasure. And I know just the place. A street food video of Hong Kong would not be complete without a serve of chua zai min, cart noodles. Originally, this dish was made on the street on a little like street vendor cart. But now you can find this dish in like more established restaurants, but the process is the same. Basically, you can choose what kind of noodle you want. You can choose the flavor that you want, whether it's spicy or salty. It's curry flavor. And then you can choose your ingredients. There are so many ingredients you can choose from here. Everything from pork blood to veggies to fish balls and everything in between. This dish is seriously customizable. So to order, you get this card and you check the boxes to choose exactly what you want. All these options were a bit intimidating, I have to say. And I think the lady sitting opposite me could see me struggling and she actually offered to help me order like a local. So sweet. $7 can get the drink. So I got a lemon iced tea too. Anyway, they follow the instructions on your order card to build this bowl of noodles to your specifications. It was at this point, I started realizing this lady hadn't exactly helped me order the smallest bowl of noodles. Then for the last step, they pour on top this incredibly umami broth, the flavor of which is achieved thanks to Knorr's chicken bouillon. So this product she just used to put into that broth, it's chicken bouillon. And the brand of this one is called Knorr. And Knorr is the industry leader when it comes to chicken bouillon and chicken powder here in Hong Kong. And I've actually been told that most restaurants as well as like home kitchens here in Hong Kong will have at least one Knorr product. And basically the main function of this chicken bouillon or chicken powder is to add umami kick to a dish. In the case of a chicken bouillon, it's a super concentrated chicken stock. So in this restaurant, they use it to add a little bit of extra flavor to their broth. And because these products are readily available in supermarkets around the world, the good news is is that you can actually reproduce this Hong Kong flavor in the comfort of your own home. So I will put on the screen now the countries that Knorr products are available in. You can go check it out. And there are lots and lots of recipes available on their website about how to actually use this to recreate the Hong Kong taste. Anyway, my cart noodles are done. Wow, that is a big bowl of food. But don't let it frighten you off though. I'm pretty sure I had the biggest bowl of any other customer in the shop. If you have a small appetite, simply order less ingredients. What a glorious bowl of noodles. So I got a local lady to help me order because she said, can you help me order like a local? And there is so many ingredients in this. This is going to be the ultimate finisher. Needless to say, this is the last food we'll be eating on today's food adventure. It smells incredible. At the end, they put on this like this homemade chili curry sauce and it is so fragrant. I first want to try some of that broth. It's so nice. It's just hearty, umami. And I'm sure it'll only get more and more flavorful as I start to mix this together. And I mean, I almost forgot there were noodles in here as well. There they are right at the bottom there. Well, these noodles aren't going to eat themselves. So the noodles got my tick of approval. Now let's start getting into that mountain of ingredients. First up, some pig skin. I was expecting crunchy, but it was actually super, super tender. Super jelly-like and like collagen-y. Talking of collagen-y, the ultimate collagen booster, the chicken foot. And also amazingly tender. It broke apart so easily when I bit into it. A representative vegetable. And the more I ate, the more that spice started to build up. And on this sheet here, this yellow section, it basically says you can add a drink for seven Hong Kong dollars. So I have gone for the lemon iced tea, one of my favorite drinks that I've been drinking here in Hong Kong. It was perfectly refreshing. Cool, iced, amazing. It goes really well with this spicy here. Really tasty bowl of noodles. Very big bowl of noodles. I already know that a lot of this I'll be taking away to eat for breakfast tomorrow. I love the curry flavor that's coming at me from that sauce. I love the broth. That's tasty in its own right. You can just have the broth on its own. It's super umami and flavorful from all the ingredients and from the sauces mixing together. I love how customizable it is. You can really have as many veggies or in my case, meat as you want to have. So many textures. I love how cheap this drink was as well. I think in general, if you're wanting to be kind on your wallet here in Hong Kong, come and find a local, old school Hong Kong bowl like this one. Also, from what I'm understanding, this is the place to go for street food. Street food is no longer on the streets as it seems here in Hong Kong. And yeah, I've really loved exploring this mall this afternoon. And next time I want to get some street food, I'll be coming back here. So thank you guys so much for watching today's food adventure about street food here in Hong Kong. I've got so many more amazing Hong Kong food content coming your way soon. So don't forget to like and comment and please, please, please subscribe. And I will see you guys on my channel next week from here in Hong Kong. Bye!